


Spring Waters

by Tipper



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Challenge Response, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 22:22:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4036681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tipper/pseuds/Tipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buck, Ezra, Josiah and Nathan are on the wrong side of a raging river, stuck between swimming in the white water or taking their chances with the armed men and dogs chasing them down. The choice seems obvious, since they have no weapons and Josiah's badly beaten.  Problem is, Nathan and Buck don't know how to swim.  What to do, Ezra wonders, what to do...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spring Waters

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the February 2002 Challenge offered by Heather F. "Some of the seven guys are stuck on one side of a water way (river, pool, pond, puddle, bathtub anything with water) and some of the others (one or two or how many you want) are on the other side. For whatever reason, the one group refuses to cross the water and join the others, despite the fact bad guys can be heard bearing down on them." Almost everyone who answered this challenge used a river, and so did I. Revised over 13 years later for posting here.

Vin sat lonely atop the butte, peering into the spyglass across the tree-covered valley below. It was a surprisingly pretty location, split by a wide, white river and dotted with red and pink colored rocks. Peso snorted and shifted behind him, bored. He pawed the ground a little, then shook his head. Vin ignored him.

 _There they were_.

The tracker's shoulders tensed, watching as four running figures clad in light brown and gray appeared on the dirt road leading to the prison complex hidden deep inside the valley, heading in the opposite direction. Legs pumping for all they were worth, the four men were following the road for as long as possible while they made their escape. Vin smiled at the fact that none were shackled. _Good on ya, Ezra_ —man knew his locks.

He turned the spyglass to the valley floor directly below, where Chris and JD were waiting on this side of the wide, swift-moving river, at the only low point for miles—the rendezvous point. Between them, they held onto four additional horses, the animals lazily eating at the scrub brush, unaware of the race that they were about to take part in.

The river itself was swollen with winter runoff, but the rocks were flatter at the rendezvous point and the water not quite as deep. Still, the water was too rough to bring so many riderless horses across with just two people. Ezra, Buck, Josiah and Nathan were going to have to ford the river on foot. Hence this location—it was the only place that wouldn't require swimming. 

The tracker took off his hat, preparing to wave it to signal Chris that the others were coming. He stopped mid-movement, his sharp eyes spotting movement on the prison road, heading directly towards the four escapees.

Placing the spyglass to his eye again, he frowned darkly. At least a dozen men rode along it from the town–the corrupt prison Warden and his flunkeys. He was a day early. 

And the boys were running straight for them.

"Damn," Vin whispered, fingers clenching around the metal. There was no way to warn them.  
___________________________________

Buck stopped dead in the middle of the flat, dirt road, and flung his arms out to stop the others. 

Nathan barreled into him, nearly taking him down. With a growl, Buck straightened, grabbed a chunk of Nathan's prison uniform at the shoulder and started dragging him towards the thick wall of cedar and ash trees to the side of the road. Nathan started to protest, but Buck hissed at him to be quiet. Once inside the trees, behind some thick brush, he let Nathan go and checked to make sure Josiah and Ezra had followed. 

They had.

Ezra was propping up a now heavily breathing Josiah, the older man clearly struggling for air. The bruises all over his face and torso from the abuse he'd taken in the prison were taking their toll. Ezra was whispering something into the other man's ear. Buck couldn't hear what he was saying, but he could hear the tone—Ezra was trying to calm the preacher down.

Nathan tugged at his clothes and Buck looked at him. The healer raised his eyebrows in a question, but Buck just put his fingers to his lips and peeked out between the branches of the bush they had hid behind. 

Seconds later, the warden rode past their hiding place, oblivious to the escapees under his nose. It was pure chance that Buck had managed to feel the rumble beneath his feet on the road from their horses, had seen the dust cloud up over the trees. He and the others were damned lucky that the road curved just here or they'd have run right into them. 

He felt Nathan grab his arm and hold on tightly as the men rode past. Ezra had stopped whispering, and was holding a hand over Josiah's mouth to muffle the older man's heavy breathing.

One prison guard glanced in their direction—Buck prayed it was just chance and not because he heard or saw something.

A moment later, the men were gone and Buck sighed in relief.

"Now what?" Nathan whispered.

"Straight to the river," Buck replied, just as softly.

"Cross-country?" Ezra whispered from his position. "I'm not sure Josiah can—"

"I'll be fine," Josiah said hoarsely, still not breathing well. "Let's go."

Buck nodded and stood to get his bearings, checking the location of the sun through the trees and guessing at their distance from the prison. With a nod, he led the way deeper into the dense greenery, aiming for the route with the least amount of obstructions, walking as quickly as he could.

"Stay close," he whispered. "I'll get us to the river, then we can walk it upstream to the—"

_Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang…._

"Shit," Buck spat, staring towards the source of the bells. The prison had found out about the escape—they were tolling the bells, and the warden and a dozen man barely yards away! The other three had stopped, Ezra also staring in horror towards the prison, while Nathan and a swaying Josiah stared at Buck. 

"Keep moving," he whispered urgently, picking up the pace to more of a jog through the trees. "Move, move, move!"  
_____________________________________________

Vin watched as the Warden pulled up hard on the reins as the bells tolled, immediately looking around for signs of escapees, his men following suit, their horses dancing in circles. He had to be only about fifty feet from Buck and the others, if that. Vin's fingers gripped the spyglass tightly again.

The warden suddenly started shouting, obviously rattling off orders. Eight men turned and rode back towards town. The warden and his remaining men then began galloping for the prison. Vin turned his sightline to the old fort, watching as the doors opened to reveal more men on horseback…

And dogs.

"Great," Vin muttered. Buck'd know the dogs would be after them. He'd head straight to the river from where they'd hid, then run upstream to get to the rendezvous point, all of which would slow them down. Turning the spyglass, he tracked the men heading back to town, and cursed in annoyance as several broke off and headed in the direction of the rendezvous point. 

Chris had guessed that might happen. The warden's men were smart—they knew the rendezvous point was a possible way out because of the shallowness of the river. But Chris had expected the men to be coming from the prison—not from this close by. They'd easily beat Buck and the others there.

It meant Buck would have to cross the river further down.

A river raging with spring flood waters.

Vin put his hat back on and raised the spyglass, waving the shiny object back and forth.

On the ground near the crossing, Chris waved back. Vin gestured they pull back in the trees, and Chris held up a hand to show he understood. He and JD mounted their horses and pulled all the horses up the bank and away from the rendezvous point.

Back on top the Butte, Vin quickly mounted Peso and roughly forced the horse to climb down the steep, rocky side towards the forest below to meet them. He knew approximately where the boys would come out at the river; Chris, JD and Vin would just have to meet them as best they could.  
_________________________________ 

"Aw, hell!" Buck stopped running, his heels skidding to a stop at the top of the bank leading down to the fast moving river. At the edges, black rocks peaked out from above the yellow-white foam, and not for the first time, Buck wished it weren't spring.

So far, between Ezra's allergies and Josiah's injuries, nothing had gone right in this damned prison escape. The first time they'd hunkered down to hide from their pursuers, Ezra had started sneezing ferociously because they'd disturbed a bunch of powder mushrooms, the brown spores driving the poor gambler nearly to unconsciousness. He was still sniffling now. Josiah, meanwhile…well, it was amazing he was moving at all.

Only he and Nathan were still moving without complaint, but, upon seeing the river, that was about to change.

"How deep is it?" Nathan asked nervously, nearly colliding again with the stalled Buck.

"What does it matter?" Ezra sniffed, coming up beside them. "We have to get across." He sneezed again, "Frankly, I'm looking forward to the prospect of rinsing some of this damned mushroom powder off my clothes. If, that is, you can call these clothes." He plucked at the hideous brown and gray cloth. 

"And I could use the cold water," Josiah said, lumbering past Nathan and Buck to slide down the muddy bank and lean over to touch a hand to the icy water. His face grew momentarily blissful, and then he seemed to deflate. He would have fallen into the water if Ezra hadn't jumped down and grabbed the back of the uniform.

"You okay?" the gambler asked quietly, looking at Josiah's heavy lidded eyes. The preacher smiled and nodded.

"The swim will help," he replied. "I'll be fine."

Ezra faked a smile and looked up at Buck. Buck, meanwhile, was trying very hard not to panic as he took in how fierce the river was looking. Ezra's brow furrowed in concern. 

"Buck, what's wrong?" Then, "Nathan?"

Buck looked at the healer, who was stock still by his side. Nathan looked about as thrilled about the prospect of swimming this river as he was.

"Um…" Buck blinked, then pointed. "Wait, is that Vin?"

Ezra looked to the far side, then stood up and waved. Vin was riding down the edge on the other side. As he came level with them, he jumped off of Peso's back and shouted something. The river swallowed whatever he said whole. 

Ezra shook his head, and cupped his hands to his mouth. "What?" he yelled.

"...behind you...minutes...dogs...."

It was all of Vin's words they heard, but it was enough. Buck looked behind them, as if he could see their pursuers through the thick trees. Vin was still shouting, but it was lost in the rushing water. Finally, he gave up and just made a motion indicating they needed to get across the river there. Then he jumped up onto Peso's back and disappeared back into the trees.

"Well gentlemen," Ezra said, sitting down to take off his boots. "Looks like we're going swimming."

"Swimming?" Buck's voice caught, and he looked at the swollen river again. "You think it's that deep? We can't wade across?"

"In that current?" Ezra espied Buck from the corner of his eye. "Even if it was shallow, which I can tell you it's not, it'd bowl you over and you'd be swimming anyway. But a few well pulled strokes and we'll be on the other side. Hopefully, Vin will return with our mounts, Mr. Larabee and Mr. Dunne by then." He sneezed again and closed his eyes, rubbing at his forehead above his sinuses. 

"A few well pulled strokes...." Nathan repeated slowly, his eyes watching a dead branch floating down the river, alternately sinking and rising as it was spun around. Buck's eyes tracked the same dead branch--it was making him feel a bit nauseous as he watched. 

Josiah looked back at them, his boots already off, and tying the laces to keep them together. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Why aren't you taking off your boots?"

"It's cold. We could freeze in that. It's snow run off," Nathan said, waving at the river. "And look how fast it is moving."

Buck nodded, "Yeah. That current is strong, as you said. Josiah, you're still weak. It could pull you under."

"I'll make it," Josiah said calmly, his eyes measuring his two friends carefully. "And one of you can help me if I falter."

Ezra uncovered his eyes, and looked at Buck. "Look, I don't see as we have any choice. If Vin says we need to cross here, then we need to cross here. So just…" He paused, eyes widening slightly, and suddenly sighed.

"Oh Lord, you can't swim, can you?" he stated unhappily.

"No," both Nathan and Buck said simultaneously. They looked and each other in surprise, then smiled weakly. Ezra looked at Nathan, also surprised.

"What, you can't either?"

Nathan shrugged. "Not much call on a plantation to learn. Weren't much free time."

Buck gave a nervous laugh. "The rivers where I grew up were too small to bother about. I come from farm country, remember. It had irrigation canals and that was about it."

"There is the Mississippi," Ezra said.

"Mississippi has boats."

"And you've never had to jump off of one?"

Buck just stared at Ezra, "Why would I have to jump off a boat?"

The former riverboat gambler opened his mouth to answer, then changed his mind. He shook his head.

"Okay, okay," Ezra muttered. "What do we do? What do we do?" He looked at the river.

"Me and Nathan could keep heading north, if you think you can make sure Josiah gets across," Buck suggested. "Look, Chris knows I can't swim. He'll be looking for a place where the horses could get across and fetch us."

"And if he doesn’t find one?" Ezra asked, looking upstream now. Then he looked back at Buck. "First, you know perfectly well Josiah and I won't leave you. Second, Vin must have been monitoring us from above. He told us we need to cross here. He must have had a reason. Maybe we're cut off from the rendezvous point. Maybe his mention of 'minutes' was to tell us we don't have many."

"Or maybe he was saying Chris and JD were only a few minutes behind him," Nathan said hopefully. Ezra looked at him, and Nathan sighed. "Yeah, I know," he said, "unlikely." 

"So, what do you propose?" Buck demanded, "You carry us across?" He meant it as a mocking retort, so was surprised when Ezra swallowed, and looked at Josiah.

"I'm not strong enough," Josiah said. "I'm almost asleep on my feet now. I may need help myself."

Ezra groaned, and looked up at the sky. And promptly sneezed again.

Buck smiled at the man's discomfort, then quickly wiped it away as he instantly felt guilty. It wasn't Ezra's fault that this river was between them and safety--Buck just hated being helpless to choose.

"I'll follow Josiah across," Ezra said, "then come back for each of you. Perhaps, by that time, Chris, Vin and JD will have arrived and can help."

"You're not serious," Buck said, his mouth open. "You can't carry me and Nathan! We're both over a head taller than you."

Ezra shrugged. "I won't be carrying you per se, Mr. Wilmington, though I will agree that you are definitely both heavier than I am." He grinned wickedly, patting his stomach, and Buck's eyes narrowed. The gambler raised a hand to forestall a retort. "That is to say, I will be dragging you. Trust me, I've dragged much larger and heavier objects with me in the water before. The two of you will be a piece of cake."

Nathan did not look pleased, and Buck continued to scowl. Josiah's smirk only reinforced his irritation.

"I still think we should move further on," Nathan said. "There has to be a shallower place."

"And I don't know if any of the others know how to swim either," Buck said. "I mean, Chris, he fishes, but I ain't never seen him go in the water after one. And Vin grew up as landlocked as me."

"We know JD can swim," Josiah said with a knowing smile. JD and Casey often returned sopping wet from the watering hole together, laughing. 

"Well, it's a risk we'll have to take," the gambler said. He unbuttoned the uniform and pulled out the bookpouch he'd been carrying underneath, quickly unlooping it from around his torso. He held it out to Buck. "Think you can toss this?"

Buck frowned. He knew why Ezra was asking—Buck had the best throwing arm of all of them—but it was a wide river, perhaps twenty yards across. He'd thrown baseballs farther than that when playing, but those were much lighter. Still, the ledgers in the pouch were the only concrete proof they had of the warden's corruption. With a nod, he took the pouch by the handles. After judging its weight, he put it over his head and spun it by the cloth handle, as if it were a bolo. At the last second, he let go and the book sailed across the wide river…

And landed squarely on the beach on the other side. 

"Whoo-whee!" he shouted. Looking back at Ezra, he found the man standing in nothing but his drawers, holding up his boots wrapped inside his prison uniform. 

"What?" he asked.

"If you don't mind," Ezra said with a cheeky smile. "You did so well with the ledgers."

Buck sighed. Rolling up the boots and uniform into as tight a ball as he could, he leaned back and pitched it as hard as he could across the river.

It sailed high....then fell like a stone. It hit the water with a sucking kind of splash, and sank into the flowing depths. Buck's throw had been short a good three feet.

"Oh, great," the gambler said, sniffing. "Thanks a lot, Buck," he said sullenly.

Buck grinned. It hadn't been on purpose, but he'd enjoyed the result.

Meanwhile, Josiah had also taken off his boots and tied them to his uniform belt. Ezra turned to follow as the preacher waded into the water. In moments, Buck and Nathan were watching as the two men swam swiftly across the water. Josiah was fine almost the whole way, but he slowed near the other end. Then he stopped swimming altogether, his body going limp in the water, face down. Ezra caught up to him, grabbed him by his uniform, and turned him over.

"Oh God," Nathan muttered, gripping his hands into fists. Josiah had passed out.

Ezra got an arm under the preacher's neck, all the time fighting the current that was threatening to pull them further downstream. Josiah had made it past the worst of the current, but it was still strong. Ezra grimaced, got Josiah in a good hold, and then started moving again with deep strokes towards the other side.

"Wow," Buck nodded, impressed.

Ezra clambered up the slope, pulling Josiah with him. He propped the unconscious preacher against the muddy bank and leaned over to make sure Josiah was breathing. Blowing a deep breath from out his cheeks, he stood up and gave Buck and Nathan a thumb's up sign.

Buck whooped, and Nathan returned the gesture with a salute. Then they watched as Ezra lifted Josiah up and pushed him up and over the muddy bank. He had some difficulty -- Josiah was not a small man by any means -- but somehow the smaller man managed it. Then Ezra sighed, looked off into the woods for a moment, as if hoping to see Vin, Chris and JD come out of it. After a moment, he turned and jumped back into the river, disappearing from sight under it. 

"Whoa, where'd he go?" Nathan said, stepping forward. Buck frowned, scanning the frothy water.

Suddenly, Ezra reappeared, standing up and holding up his found shirt and boots proudly. Buck shook his head as Ezra tossed it over next to where Josiah was stashed. Then the gambler dove back into the water and swam back over to their side. After a few moments, he crawled out of the water in front of them and shook his head.

"Damn that's cold," he said shaking his arms. He grinned up at Nathan and Buck. "So, who's next?"

"Buck," Nathan said.

"Nathan," Buck said, at the same time.

Ezra sighed, then looked at Nathan. "Maybe it should be you. Josiah might need you. I think he's just asleep, but..." He shrugged.

Nathan swallowed, but sat down and took off his shoes. Ezra backed up into the water, as he had already begun to shake from the cold, the cool spring wind not helping.

"When you get to your waist, just settle into the water and try to lie on your back," Ezra instructed. "And relax. Got that? Relaxing is very, very important."

Nathan tied his shoes to his waist, as he had seen Josiah do, and nodded at Ezra. He shivered as he touched the water, clearly feeling the wet slimy rocks beneath his feet, but gamely kept moving. 

Just before the water reached his waist, he slipped.

With a sharp cry, he went under.

"Nathan!" Buck yelled, his eyes watching as Ezra instantly went after him. In seconds, Ezra had Nathan's head out of the water, holding him up as Nathan grabbed at Ezra as if he were a life preserver.

"Stop thrashing!" Ezra yelled at him, "I can't hold you if you're thrashing!"

Nathan barely heard, his only thought as they slipped deeper into the center of the river, drawn by the current, was that he was going to die here.

Ezra was doing his best, but Nathan kept fighting him, refusing to stay on his back and clearly still searching for his feet for something to stand on. Buck had crossed his arms, watching them with wide eyes.

"Lie still, damn it!" Ezra screamed, getting desperate as Nathan dunked them both again. He came up spitting water out of his mouth and dragging Nathan's head up, using all of his strength to manage it.

"Lie still, Nathan!" Buck yelled, feeling utterly useless. He was so intent on the scene in the river, that almost didn't hear the sound of dogs in the distance.

But he had heard them. He turned and looked fretfully towards the woods. _Oh god…_  
  
"You have to trust me!" Ezra begged as Nathan continued to fight. "Nathan, please! I know you don't want to, but you have to. Please! Oh, damn it!"

Nathan went under again, and Ezra went after him.

They were well down river now, a good fifteen yards from Buck and Josiah's positions. The preacher had apparently woken at the yells, and was struggling to get back over the bank's edge to the men fighting down river. Buck jogged downstream, trying to keep up with them.

When Ezra came up again, he had Nathan securely in a headlock.

"Listen, you either trust me, or you die. You get that?" he barked hoarsely, one hand pinching Nathan hard on the shoulder to get his attention.

The trick worked. Nathan's eyes were rolling in his head, but the pinch and Ezra's words somehow must have registered in his panicked mind. Buck watched as Nathan went still and Ezra propped him up, getting a good hold…and then started to swim.

Ezra had him. Ezra actually had him. Why had that been so hard to believe?

In a few long minutes, the two men were at the other side. Slowly, he dragged Nathan up onto the muddy bank with him, lying the healer on his side. Then Ezra fell to his knees in the mud coughing harshly, his arms wrapped around his torso.

Josiah fell down the bank to the beach, got to his feet, and stumbled towards them.

Buck watched, his arms now tightly holding his sides. After a moment, Ezra struggled to his feet, leaving Nathan still lying down on the bank, and waded back into the water, wearing a determined frown as he looked across at Buck.

This time, Ezra swam much more slowly back to Buck's side of the river. Whereas before the current hadn't affected him much, now Buck saw a definite drift in the man's movements. He walked down to meet him.

The dogs were really loud now.

As soon as Ezra was in range, Buck started wading into the water.

"Dogs," he explained when Ezra frowned curiously at him. At the word, Ezra stood up and looked towards the woods, hearing the same cacophony of barking hounds.

"Too close," he whispered hoarsely. "What if we can't—"

"We'll make it," Buck said, more for himself than Ezra. He looked to the other side, where Josiah had collapsed next to Nathan. The healer was sitting up, a hand to his forehead. When the warden and his men showed up, those two would be sitting ducks on the other side of the river. Not to mention him and Ezra. Where the hell were Vin and the others?

When he reached the point that the water was above his waist, Buck looked at Ezra. The gambler was taking some deep breaths, and shaking his head.

"Okay?" the ladies' man asked, not liking his friend's pallor.

Ezra nodded, smiling with obvious exhaustion at Buck.

"Just don't let me forget my boots," he said. "They cost me more than your entire wardrobe. And if you ruined them with that horrible throw...." 

Buck gave a short laugh. "Why am I not surprised," he said. Then, blowing out a shaky breath, he knelt down in the water and rolled onto his back, fear prickling at his skin as much as the freezing ice water. He shut his eyes, and tried to take comfort when Ezra snaked an arm around his torso. Lifting his feet up was one of the hardest things he'd ever done.

Then they were moving. He could feel each of Ezra's strokes like a sharp tug. As they reached the center of the river, he understood Nathan's fear. His feet swung down river, and Ezra's hold suddenly felt too loose to hold him. He tried to push against the pull of the current, and he felt Ezra's arm tighten.

"Please don't move," Ezra whispered between gasped breaths. "Trust me, please."

Buck, however, had seen what had happened to Nathan. Though it went against every survivalist bone in his body, he forced himself to do the unthinkable.

Completely put his life in the hands of someone else.

A few seconds later, he sensed something changing. Ezra continued to pull, but Buck could feel that the man's strength was waning. Each stroke was less powerful, each tug less strong.

Every muscle in Buck's frame itched to fight the current, to get out of Ezra's hold and get himself across. Not that he could, of course.

It was agonizing.

Ezra was definitely fading. Water sloshed around Buck's head, and for a second he went under. Ezra pulled him up, and Buck gasped for air.

Suddenly, he heard Ezra yell, and they both went under.

Buck fought then, unable to understand what was happening. He never heard the shots fired overhead, or the returning fire as Chris and Vin gave them cover. Instead, his legs sliced the freezing water, his arms beating up and down for all they were worth. His eyes opened wide and he looked around at the inky green water all around him. He opened his mouth to scream, and it filled with water, choking him.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his right arm and started to pull him towards the light. 

A moment later, someone grabbed his other arm. Together, the two men pulled Buck upwards.

Gunfire peppered the air around his head as he surfaced, and he spat out the water in his mouth. Craning his head to the right, he saw Ezra pulling on his right arm and swimming. Turning the other way, he saw JD holding onto his left arm.

"I got him!" the kid yelled, reaching under Buck and getting an arm around his chest. "Get to shore!"

Ezra nodded, and let go. In moments, he was crawling up the bank and sliding over the muddy earthen shield while Chris, Vin, and a recovered Nathan gave them cover.

JD easily reached shore with several strong strokes, pulling the much larger Buck behind him as if he weighed no more than a rag doll. In seconds, the two were crawling up the muddy bank.

On the other side, the warden and his men continued to fire, while the hound dogs jumped up and down, barking madly at their lost prey. They kept firing even after the prisoners and their helpers disappeared into the woods.  
___________________________________________ 

Ezra pulled himself up onto Chaucer's back where they'd tied up the horses about ten yards from the river, totally exhausted, blood running down his arm where he'd been clipped. Vin reached down from off Peso's back and grabbed Chaucer's reins, then both were off and running, while Ezra merely tried to hang on to consciousness. The others were soon around them, Chris pulling Josiah, who was also out of it. Buck and Nathan were both recovering quickly, and easily controlled their own mounts, while JD brought up the rear, his gun in hand in case the corrupt warden and his men tried to follow. 

Which was highly likely. 

They had proof of his corruption now. They just needed to get to the army to tell them. 

The army Colonel in charge of a nearby fort had had his suspicions about the warden, when too many prisoners were showing up dead and others disappearing, and he'd told Judge Travis. The judge then drafted the seven's help in finding out for sure. Last night, the warden had learned from an army turncoat in town that four of his prisoners were actually informants. He'd immediately instructed that Buck, Ezra, Nathan and Josiah be shot this morning at nine for their "crimes." On the outside with Vin and JD, Chris had been trailing the army turncoat, not trusting him, so had learned of what was going to happen. Luckily, they had worked out a contingency plan in advance, just in case. When the warden rode into town at dawn to get the necessary "paperwork" for the execution, Buck and the others were to escape and meet Chris and JD at the rendezvous point. They did, but they hadn't counted on the warden returning so soon and cutting off the only safe crossing point, or the prison discovering of their escape so quickly.

As their mounts pushed through the forest, moving as fast as they could, but hindered by the thick underbrush, Vin looked over at Chris, his worry clear. They were moving much too slowly. The Fort was over ten miles away. With Ezra and Josiah near unconscious, they wouldn't make it.

They crashed out of the woods and onto the road, and pulled up hard. Ezra barely held on as Chaucer skidded to a stop. 

Fifty cavalrymen sat in front of them, the army Colonel at the head. The Colonel smiled at the surprised Chris.

"I do apologize," the Colonel said, "for the delay my men caused you earlier. I warned you that you should have let me tell me men who you all were."

"And I told you that at least one of your men was a turncoat," Chris snarled. "How could we know there weren't more?"

"Fair enough," the colonel said. "Still, I'm assuming it’s a good thing I decided to have my men practice maneuvers down here this morning? Even if that small scouting party did cause a touch of interference."

Chris looked at the others, then at the Colonel. He grimaced, as if in pain, "Yes," he admitted. "It's a good thing. We might have some…people behind us."

"And we have the proof you need," Buck said, holding out the pouch with the ledgers to the Colonel. The man took it, glanced inside, and then his expression developed into a wicked grin.

"Well, how nice that the warden should have followed you out here then," he said darkly. "If you would let some of my men escort you back to the Fort, Mr. Larabee, I think the rest of us should be able to take it from here."

Chris gave a shrug, and a troop filed in next to them, run by a young lieutenant that JD had made a fast friendship with. 

Not too much later, the seven heard rifle fire behind them. The warden never had a chance.  
___________________________________

A couple of hours later, the seven rode into Fort Castor. Ezra was limp on the saddle. He and Josiah were quickly carried to the infirmary, with Buck and Nathan following close behind. Chris, Vin and JD, meanwhile, went to make a record of what had been learnt at the prison.

Buck moved to sit next to Ezra's cot, thinking he might owe him a thank you. After a while, the younger man blinked up at Buck, eyes filling with water as the army doctor bandaged his arm.

"I'm sorry, Buck..." Ezra whispered hoarsely. "When I was hit....in the river...I let you go...."

Buck shook his head. "Not how I remember it." He smiled. "You really came through for us, pal. I owe you one." He touched the man's still damp hair lightly, and Ezra smiled as he fell asleep. 

Buck shook his head and looked over at Nathan, who was watching Josiah sleep as well.

Feeling the scrutiny, the healer looked back and smiled.

"Think we can ever pay him back for this?" the healer asked, looking at Ezra.

"Nope. But I guarantee he'll sure as hell make us try," Buck replied, grinning wryly.

Nathan laughed. Then the smile turned to a frown as he noticed Ezra's stockinged feet. He looked sharply at the ladies' man.

"Hey, did you remember to grab Ezra's boots?"

Buck's eyes widened.

"Aw hell...."


End file.
